Selling a business in the United States. What it is worth, and how it sells.
Service agreement bases, replacement mix and the SDE to EBITDA crossover. What Sun Belt platforms actually pay.
Membership plans, drain and trenchless capability, and why combined plumbing and HVAC prices higher than either alone.
Code-mandated inspection revenue, deficiency conversion and the difference between an ITM book and an install contractor.
How DSOs price post-associate EBITDA, why collections-based offers are not comparable, and what lease terms do to your price.
Who buys veterinary practices, why associate cover drives price, and whether to keep or sell the building.
How to value a heating and air conditioning business: SDE against EBITDA, what a maintenance agreement base is worth, and a worked example from tax return to enterprise value.
What margin buyers expect, how service, drain, remodel and new construction revenue are priced apart, and why combined plumbing and HVAC prices higher than either alone.
Percentage of collections against adjusted EBITDA, why a buyer deducts an associate to replace your own production, and what changes above $1M of earnings.
How consolidators rebuild earnings after replacing owner production, why real estate is valued separately, and 2026 veterinary acquisitions.
Why code-mandated inspection and testing revenue prices several turns above installation, what buyers verify in the ITM book, and a worked example.
What home care and home health agencies sell for, how payer mix, Medicare certification and caregiver retention move the multiple, and 2026 buyer activity.
How physician practices are valued, why post-sale physician compensation sets EBITDA, and how payer mix and regulation shape the buyer pool.
What a CIM contains, how it differs from a teaser, what buyers read first, and the disclosure mistakes that cost sellers price during diligence.
Readiness, earnings trend and structure. The twelve to twenty-four month preparation window, and the tax questions to raise with your CPA before a letter of intent.
The work that raises the price before a buyer is ever approached: owner dependence, revenue durability, records, transferability, and the order to do it in.
What a QofE review examines, which add-backs survive it, how net working capital targets are set, and how sellers stop it turning into a renegotiation.
SDE against adjusted EBITDA, how to recast a tax return line by line, and a worked example from reported profit to the figure a buyer applies a multiple to.
Business broker or M&A advisor, how retainers and success fees are structured, what the Lehman formula actually means, and the questions to ask before signing.
The sale process stage by stage with realistic timescales, what you have to produce at each point, and the issues that actually stall deals.
The whole picture in one place: what sets the price, who the real buyers are, how the stages run, what it costs, and the preparation that changes the outcome.
The three valuation approaches buyers use, how to rebuild earnings before applying a multiple, and the bridge from enterprise value to money in your account.
How a buyer arrives at their number, the eight factors that move it within a single industry, and how to work out a defensible range for your own company.
Why published multiple tables mislead owners, what actually sets a multiple within an industry, and where to find sourced figures for your own sub-sector.
Why buyers want an asset purchase and sellers want an equity sale, how IRS purchase price allocation works, and how the gap gets settled in the price.
Broker or M&A advisor, which states license business brokerage, how fees and tail clauses work, and the questions that expose a weak appointment.
Enter revenue, margin, growth and recurring revenue in dollars for an indicative enterprise value range, then request the free written valuation report.
How a seller note works when you sell, what SBA lenders allow, how to secure it, and how it changes headline price against cash at close.
How earnouts are structured, which metrics they hang on, where disputes start, and how to negotiate one that actually pays out.
The most actively consolidated market we see. Who the buyers are across Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, and what they test first.
Deep consolidator demand across South Florida, Tampa Bay and Orlando. Why being approached is not the same as being valued, and how to create competition.
The most actively consolidated market we see. Population growth, year-round cooling load and a dense field of private equity platforms in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio mean a well-run service business usually has several credible bidders rather than one.
Platforms here underwrite the recurring base line by line, so documentation matters more than presentation.
Heavy consolidation across HVAC, fire protection and dental, with a large residential base and strong replacement demand. Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee are following the same pattern a few years behind Florida.
We publish regional detail for Florida and Miami, where we have had live activity.
Similar dynamics to Texas at smaller scale. Buyers are building density around Phoenix and Las Vegas and will pay for route overlap in markets they already serve.
Bolt-on pricing here depends heavily on how close you sit to an existing platform footprint.
Higher labour cost, tighter regulation and Title 24 energy requirements. Buyers pay for compliance capability and for licensed technicians who can deliver it, and they price licence transfer risk carefully.
Electrification and heat pump capability is credited where it is evidenced by completed work.
Dual-season demand produces steadier annual revenue but a shorter replacement window. Commercial mechanical and fire protection contractors here are consolidating later than the Sun Belt.
Less competition than Texas or Florida, but more room to be the first quality asset a platform sees in the market.
Geography matters less at the smaller end. The buyer is often an individual or search fund using SBA financing, and the constraint is lender underwriting rather than local platform appetite.
Three years of clean filed tax returns is worth more here than any regional advantage.
Do you work with US business owners?
Yes. DealFlowAgent is a sell-side M&A advisory firm working with owners in the United States and the United Kingdom. Our focus is building services, facilities management, testing and compliance, and specialist healthcare, typically between $1M and $60M of enterprise value.
Is my business valued on SDE or EBITDA?
Broadly, below around $500K of adjusted profit US buyers quote on seller's discretionary earnings, which adds your own compensation and personal expenses back to profit. Above that, buyers use adjusted EBITDA on the assumption they will pay a market-rate manager to replace you. The multiples are not comparable between the two measures, which is the most common source of confusion when owners compare offers.
What are add-backs and why do they matter so much?
Add-backs are costs in your accounts that a new owner would not incur: above-market owner compensation, personal vehicles, family payroll, one-time legal or professional costs. They increase the earnings figure your multiple is applied to, so each documented dollar is worth several dollars of price. A quality of earnings review will test every one, and anything unevidenced is removed.
Who buys businesses like mine in the US?
Typically private equity-backed platforms building regional density, strategic acquirers already operating in adjacent markets, and, at the smaller end, individual buyers and search funds using SBA financing. Which of those is at your table is decided mainly by your adjusted profit and by how much of your revenue is recurring.
How long does it take to sell a business in the US?
Six to nine months from signed mandate to closing is typical for the sectors we cover. Quality of earnings work, license transfer, lease assignment and lender underwriting usually set the timetable rather than commercial negotiation.
Can I find out what my business is worth without committing to anything?
Yes. Our free valuation report takes about a minute to start. You get a written report covering the earnings a buyer would apply a multiple to, the multiple range your business currently supports, and the specific factors holding it back. There is no cost and no obligation to run a process with us.
Which states do you cover?
All of them. We are a sell-side advisory firm working from London and New York, and the sale process is run nationally rather than locally: the buyers who pay the most for a Texas or Georgia service business are frequently headquartered somewhere else. Regional knowledge matters for licensing, labour cost and buyer density, and that is covered in the regional notes on this page.
Do I need a local business broker instead?
A local broker lists a business and waits for enquiries, usually at the smaller end of the market. A sell-side adviser prepares the earnings, approaches a defined set of platforms, strategics and financial buyers at the same time, and runs them against each other. Above roughly $1M of adjusted profit the difference in outcome usually comes from that competition rather than from local presence.
Sell-side M&A advisory for building services, facilities management and specialist healthcare business owners across the United States.
United States | London and New York
What it is worth, and how it sells.
We advise owners of HVAC, plumbing, fire protection and dental businesses on sale processes across the United States. Start with a free written valuation report. It takes a minute, costs nothing, and tells you what a buyer would actually pay.
. Above that, buyers price on adjusted EBITDA, and the multiple depends chiefly on how much of your revenue is contracted and recurring.
than project-led businesses of identical profit. Bands below are DealFlowAgent estimates, not a quotation.
Dental group, EBITDA above $1M
Each guide covers what your business is worth, who buys in your sector, what buyers test in diligence, and what to fix before you go to market.
We rebuild your earnings the way a buyer will: market-rate management compensation, documented add-backs, revenue split into recurring and project. Most of the price movement in a sale happens here, before anyone is approached.
Confidential positioning: Your company goes to market as a blind profile describing revenue mix, contract base and market, without naming it. Nothing identifiable is released until a confidentiality agreement is signed.
We approach a defined set of platforms, strategics and financial buyers together rather than negotiating with the one who called you. Competition, not negotiation, is what moves price.
Letter of intent and diligence
Quality of earnings, license and lease transfer, customer contracts and employment review. Preparation done in stage one is what stops a buyer re-trading the price here.
Closing and transition: Structure, escrow, seller note or earn-out where relevant, and a transition period sized to how dependent the business is on you.
The method, not a marketing number. How buyers rebuild your earnings, which add-backs survive a quality of earnings review, and the arithmetic behind the range.
What the documents are for, what buyers expect to find in them, and how owners decide when the right moment has arrived.
Who is buying in the state, what those buyers test first, and how the process runs where consolidation has already arrived.
We advise owners nationwide. Buyer behaviour is not uniform across the country, and which region you are in changes who is at the table and how quickly they move.
Regional notes describe patterns in the acquisition criteria buyers register with us. They are not a forecast of what any individual business will achieve.
We advise owners nationwide and publish regional detail where we have live activity.
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Learn more about the valuation and value drivers report